


Operation Galatea

by Queen of the Black Mud Swamp (Zadien)



Category: Winx Club
Genre: Action/Adventure, Battle Couple, F/M, Fluff, Found Family, Light Angst, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-16 17:55:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29704392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zadien/pseuds/Queen%20of%20the%20Black%20Mud%20Swamp
Summary: Musa's holiday with her friends is disturbed when the Princess of Melody goes missing. Hoping to avoid an inter-dimensional incident, Musa must turn to Riven for help. Will this mission and the threat of danger bring them closer together or push them further apart?"This isn't something your friends can win over with the power of friendship," Riven muttered scathingly
Relationships: Musa/Riven (Winx Club)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 20





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Set six months after season six - and does not reference any of the other seasons. I started this on ff.net and then decided I should probably try to finish it because it shouldn't be that long and also because they won't stop talking in my head about how they need resolution. And a proper one. So hopefully I can do them justice.

“I am so glad we are doing this, ladies.”

Musa cast Stella a bemused look and sipped her pomegranate juice, studying the people passing by the sun-drenched cobbled promenade of Lumina, Solaria’s maiden city. Above them the suns were at their highest apex, bouncing off the arched windows on two-storey buildings across from them. Tucked under the gold and blue awning of a small cafe, the girls were safely shaded from the potent rays.

“I have to agree, Stella,” Musa replied, stretching out her legs to the vacant seat opposite her, “this was one of your better ideas.”

“Well,” Stella said, pushing her sunglasses up onto her carefully coiffed blonde hair, “sometimes after an exhausting day’s shopping, one must treat oneself.”

Musa rolled her eyes but couldn’t help the smile. This was what she enjoyed about hanging out with Stella. No pressure to think seriously, no touchy deep conversation, just friendly banter with a touch of sarcasm.

A cup was set on the table between them. Musa watched as Stella’s ochre eyes lasered in on the steam rising from it. She lifted her feet for Tecna to sit down, then settled in to wait for Stella’s eruption. It didn’t take long.

“Tecna, that’s tea.”

“Yes.”

“Hot tea?” Again Tecna nodded, and Stella's confusion tripled. “It’s blisteringly hot! Why would you choose to drink tea? Are you feeling sick? Do you need a doctor? We’re on holiday! You should drink something sweet and fruity.” Shoving herself out of her chair, Stella rose to her feet, eyes glowing. “I’m going to order you something more apt for the occasion.”

Tecna carefully tucked a strand of pink hair behind her ear and raised the cup to her lips, taking a sip with a satisfied hum. “I like tea. It’s soothing.”

Musa bit her pinkie as her smile threatened to widen, while Stella wrinkled her nose and spluttered out an indignant: “Don’t come to me if you end up with heatstroke.”

Tecna merely smiled and replied, “Of course not, I’ll go to Flora. She’s bound to have a nice healing tea to cure that.”

Before Stella could snap back a retort, Musa shook off her amusement and leaned forward to catch the blonde’s attention. “When are the others arriving?”

Stella paused and her golden eyes drifted to the side as she held up an index finger. “Well, Brandon and Sky left this morning to pick everyone up, so I guess, later on tonight. I’m so glad you could make it early, even you, tea drinker.”

“Tea is good for you, Stella.”

“You could have at least ordered an iced one.”

Musa allowed their friendly bickering to fill the void while she stirred her own drink. It would be nice to see her friends again. It felt like years since they’d had a break from saving the world. If it wasn’t one thing trying to kill Bloom—and them by association—it was another. Which led to Stella declaring the first official holiday for the Winx and Specialists. The Magical Dimension would just have to do without them for two entire weeks of sunshine and swimming and shopping on Solaria. Of course, if something came up that only they could fight, then their holiday would come to a natural conclusion. After all, they were Guardian Fairies and Heroes for a reason, but Musa hoped that just once the planets would play nice with each other. She needed this break.

Still, there would be a tinge of bittersweetness that always came when the Winx and Specialists met up. That space that Riven once occupied. She’d have to get over that soon, she supposed. Not like she could pine forever because her idiot ex-boyfriend had decided that since he couldn’t save her, he couldn’t be with her. Never mind the fact that she could save herself. Whatever. She was better off without him. They only made each other miserable anyway—or that’s what everyone said.

“Stop.”

Musa turned her head to meet Stella’s gentle admonishment. “What? I was just waiting for you two to finish bickering over tea.”

“Mm-hmm,” Stella murmured, sending a sidelong glance in Tecna’s direction—but their friend was too busy reading her datapad and sipping said tea to pay heed to them—before leaning close. “Don’t think I don’t know what you were thinking about. Stop making yourself sad, Musa.”

Musa opened her mouth to refute that, then sighed. Because Stella was right. “Easier said than done.”

“I know.” With a small smile, Stella patted her hand. “Everything in its own time.”

“I just - I see Aisha and think, maybe I should just move on but I can’t seem to do it.”

Stella nodded, but her expression remained troubled. “I wonder if Aisha’s dealing with it as well as we think. She’s so in charge of her emotions. I just worry that she’s bottling everything up and that someday she might explode.” She pursed her lips, circling her manicured finger along the rim of her glass. “I guess that’s why Flora’s hovering around her these days.”

Musa pondered that for a moment before silently agreeing with Stella. Sometimes her friend could be eerily perceptive.

Overhead a flock of doves flew by and the breeze kicked up, catching the banners and making them flare out from the lampposts.

“Stella!! Stella, I need your help.”

Stella stared at the sprinting figure. “Nova? What is she doing here?” she demanded, then made a face. “This is a trouble-free zone!”

She stood to waylay her friend—bodyguard/stunt-double/liaison and whatever else Nova did for her—while Musa kicked back in her seat and shook her head. Peace seemed to avoid Stella like the plague, she thought with a lazy smile.

However, as Nova grew increasingly agitated to the point of tears and Stella’s ire dispersed under a mask of concern, Musa and Tecna exchanged wary glances and joined them just beyond the shade.

“She’s not answering her phone and now she’s gone!”

“Nova, calm down and tell me what happened.”

Nova sucked in a breath, released it slowly and caught sight of Musa. “Galatea’s missing,” she blurted out, stepping around Stella. “I think she might be in danger.”

The hairs on Musa’s neck stood on end. “What?”

“I was talking to her on the phone and we heard laser shots and screams and she was only going to have a look and then her phone went dead and then she sent this message,” Nova babbled, shoving her phone in Musa’s direction.

Taking the phone, Musa stared at the screen, then rocked back on her heels.

Galatea: Girls kidnapped. Send help.

“What girls? Where is she?” The words swam in front of Musa’s eyes, curt and to the point.

Galatea was missing? How was that possible? She couldn’t claim Galatea as a best friend, or even a good friend, but they were more than casual acquaintances. As princess of Musa’s home planet, Melody, Musa owed Galatea a degree of loyalty, and as the guardian fairy of Melody, Musa would fight to defend her. But it was more than that. They’d forged a bond in literal fire during Musa’s third year in Alfea, when Galatea had her wings ripped from her body. Musa had given her back her wings and saved her life; there was a kinship there. And now she might very well be in danger.

“I don’t know.” Nova pressed the back of her fingers to her mouth and closed her red-rimmed eyes. “I don’t know where she is or how to find her. What if she’s hurt?”

“Did you try phoning her again?” Stella asked.

“Yes! Of course, I did. I phoned, and I phoned, but her phone is off. It just goes straight to holomail. What will I do?”

Stella grabbed her shoulder and briskly marched her to their previous table, forcing Nova to sit down. “First take a few sips of this”—she helped Nova sip the tea—“and breathe, okay. You’re no good to anyone if you’re just blubbering all over the place.”

Musa nodded and moved to take the seat beside Nova, clasping her hand to offer some comfort. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Tecna working on her datapad, obviously looking for any mentions of Galatea on the interweb.

“Where was Galatea when she phoned you?”

“New Eden.”

Stella paled and Tecna sucked in a breath, her tapping movements turning frantic.

Musa’s blood ran cold. “What? What’s New Eden?”

Stella shook her head sharply, then dropped into the empty seat. “It’s the capital city of Eden, a small satellite planet. It’s isolated, mostly desert, and nobody goes there. Not if they can help it.”

So why did Galatea? Stella met her gaze with a pointed look, but Nova’s trembling grip forced her to focus on the topic at hand. “So you two were talking and then what?”

“I heard guns, like lasers being shot and screaming. Galatea said she was going to check it out. She must have been hiding because she started whispering something about men and girls. It was too hard to hear. I asked her to repeat what she said, but her phone died. I thought about ringing her, but…” she trailed off, her hands fluttering helplessly.

“You didn’t want to betray her hiding place,” Tecna said. “That was smart.”

“Right, but when I received the message, I tried to ring but her phone is off.” Nova covered her face, breathing hard and fast.

Stella rubbed her hands over her face and groaned. “This is bad.”

Musa sent her a hard look as she tentatively patted Nova’s back. “There must be something we can do.”

Looking up, Nova grabbed Stella’s hands. “Please, help her. We have to go to your father, get the army or something.”

“We can’t,” Stella muttered. “It would cause an interdimensional incident, and what proof do you have other than a text message? A scouting party would have to make sure she’s actually in danger, and then negotiations would start.” Sounding jaded, Stella simply covered her face.

Still studying her datapad, Tecna paced beside them. “I’m trying to do some facial recognition searches, but Eden is a place with very little technological advancement. I could try setting up a droid to look for her, but that will take a lot of time.”

“We don’t have time. She could be tortured or—”

“Nova, stop. Panicking won’t solve anything. We need to think about this.”

With Nova’s song a jagged melody of discord in her head, Musa rubbed her temples and tried to think logically. Solaria would not risk a fight without verifying details. More so, they wouldn’t put themselves into a precarious situation for a girl who wasn’t even a citizen of their planet. She frowned. Melody did technically have an alliance with Solaria and the other planets involved in the attack on Tritannus, but did it extend to this kind of mission? Musa thought not. And certainly not without an extreme amount of discussion, intelligence gathering, and negotiation.

Which would only endanger Galatea more if the people who had her discovered her identity. Right now she might have some security in her anonymity. Once they knew her, they’d ransom her. Musa wasn’t sure if Melody would pay. As a non-military power, Melody didn’t have the resources to extract Galatea. They would need help. And if they couldn’t get an alliance to do something due to interdimensional issues, they would need it from a neutral party. Someone who would break the rules and who had no political leanings to hide behind.

Musa froze. She knew exactly who they needed.

“I’ve found something. It’s really fuzzy and I think I may have hacked into an archaic form of image capturing but—” Tecna turned her datapad and the girls found themselves faced with a blurred rendition of Galatea’s frozen face. It was hard to make out her surroundings. Her body crouched amongst boxes, face turned towards the camera, iconic plait thrown over one shoulder. Her eyes, darkened in the picture, were wide, lips parted in surprise.

Musa’s stomach dropped. Was she captured?

“This was taken in New Eden roughly twenty minutes ago.”

Nova crumpled, and her head dropped, orange hair spilling down to curtain her face. Stella averted her gaze and blew out a breath. Musa knew what they were thinking. Whatever Galatea had gotten into, it wasn’t good and her future wasn’t bright.

Standing up, Musa vibrated with cold fury as she pulled her phone from the pocket of her denim shorts and tapped in a number from memory she never thought to use again.

“Who are you phoning?” Stella asked.

“Someone who can help us. Someone who owes me a huge favour.”

“Okay, that was beautifully cryptic but who is it?”

“Riven.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Galatea in danger, Musa must reach out to Riven for help.

“Riven?” Nova echoed, eyes narrowing on Stella. “What can he do?”

Musa focused on the rhythmic ringing in her ear as the call tried to connect and not on the buzzing under her skin or the frantic throbbing of her pulse against her throat. She’d just keep it professional, explain the issue and ask for his aid. 

He said he wanted to be friends before he left. That’s what friends did; helped each other in times of need. What was the point of an ex-boyfriend with his job if he couldn’t be useful?

“Give me a second.” Riven’s rough voice washed over her like a balm and she shivered, hating her reaction to him before the phone muted to fuzz punctuated by thuds and sharp voices.

Sucking in a breath, she pushed away from the table and walked, fisting her hand to control the fine trembling coursing through her body. It wasn’t excitement or nerves, just apprehension. They hadn’t talked in a while; she hadn’t permitted herself to think about him. Part of her blamed him for walking away, for taking the easy option, for leaving her behind. Petty perhaps, but it saved her some heartache from knowing she wasn’t enough for him.

More static sounds and she looked away from her friends and their curious looks. She didn’t want to dissect her relationship with Riven in front of them. This was to help Galatea. Nothing more. A crackle of sound followed by chanting came through the phone. As she listened to his footsteps, she realised he was looking for somewhere quiet to take the call too. Typical Riven, he always craved his privacy.

“Musa? Hey. How are you?”

She frowned. He sounded genuinely happy to hear from her, which sucked. Had he been waiting for her to chase after him? Did he feel like he’d won because she’d finally contacted him? Swallowing the bitterness, she forced herself to concentrate on the matter at hand. “I need your help.”

A pause and she could almost hear his disappointment. “Sure.”

“Princess Galatea of Mel—”

“I know who Galatea is, Musa.” There was a bite to his words as if she’d insulted him, but that hadn’t been her intent. How was she to know he remembered Galatea? It wasn’t like they hung out together at Alfea. And Riven always been vocal about his dislike of fairies. 

“She’s missing.”

“What? How?”

She laid out everything Nova had told her and, as she did, she calmed and approached her friends again. This was safe, this was business. Riven would understand that. After all, he was one of the most focused people she knew.

After she finished, Riven remained silent, but she knew he was digesting everything she’d told him, picking apart the information and twisting it to come up with a strategy. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Stella exit the cafe with a tray of drinks in a variety of mugs and glasses which she set on the table, pushing a steaming mug of tea into Nova’s hands, brushing off Nova’s initial rejection. With a wan smile at her friend’s motherly antics—something Stella rarely got to indulge in with Flora or Bloom around—Musa sat down and took a quick sip, wetting her parched throat.

“Why was she on Eden?” Riven finally demanded, and she could almost see him pacing in a tight agitated circle, shoving his free hand over his hair. Her heart clenched. 

Closing her eyes against the image, she cleared her throat and said, “I don’t know.”

“Oh,” Nova said, looking up from her barely touched tea, “she said something about an engine component malfunctioning and they had to land and Eden was the closest planet.”

Riven sighed. “Musa, I don’t like this. You need permission from the High Lord himself to enter Eden airspace, never mind entering the city itself.”

It didn’t take any magical powers to know where his sceptical mind had jumped, but the royal advisors and the King himself strictly vetted all employees of the Melodian crown. They wouldn’t make a mistake like that, not to mention the fact that it looked like Galatea had ventured off on her own. Still… “Then you understand why we can’t go to anyone else about this. Melody isn’t a military power, it has absolutely no resources in this area and if they go to another planet in the Sovereign alliance, there’s no guarantee that they’ll get help. Not all the planets are pleased with Melody’s involvement in the war against Tritannus. Even if they helped, it would more than likely cause a political backlash that I don’t think any planet will risk for one princess of a minor planet.” After all, Melody could just vote in a new princess. It wasn’t like the line was hereditary, like Solaria’s or Eraklyon’s.

Tecna nudged her and showed Musa her datapad. On the screen, a video played. It was grainy and fuzzed out at the edges, but Musa could clearly see Galatea sitting on a bench beside another girl with curled hair. A man, holding an archaic pulse rifle, walked past her along the narrow aisle. He would reach the edge of her seat only to teleport back again as the video looped. Tecna fiddled with the image, it zoomed out. They were on a bus, rusted and dented, with paint flaking off the sides where someone had once tried to decorate it with words. Someone had parked it at a service station where the camera was based—obviously overlooked because of the abandoned state of the business, with empty spots where the fuel pumps once sat and covered in dust and sand. 

“I’m trying to track it but the technology there is almost non-existent.”

“Riven, Tecna’s going to send you a few things”—even as she said the words, Tecna was already calling up a message—“but it’s worse than we previously feared. Galatea’s caught and there’s nothing the Winx can do; if we go in there and we’re captured too, we’ll make for a bigger reward.” Or worse.

“This isn’t something your friends can win over with the power of friendship,” Riven said scathingly. He went silent, and she knew he was watching the video when a hissed curse whispered out. “Look, I’ll bring this to my superiors. I’ll phone you in the next hour when I have something. Don’t do anything stupid.”

If they were still an item, Musa would have laughed and teased him to have more faith in her and her friends, but they weren’t together anymore and so the smile faded from her lips, the words turned to ashes on her tongue.

He hung up, and she quietly put the phone in her pocket.

“So how can Riven help when Stella’s dad can’t?”

Musa tried to answer, but she couldn’t. She needed space; some time to just process that conversation. Pressing a hand against the knots in her stomach, she tried to ignore the ragged yearning tearing a hole through her chest. She missed him. She missed him so damn much.

Her eyes burned as she fiddled with her phone, frantically trying to calm down enough to answer Nova’s question. She could feel Nova watching her, the way Tecna carefully kept her gaze averted, and then Stella stood up, slapping her hands against the table.

“Because Riven’s an Elite, the best of the best,” Stella declared, holding up a finger. “That means he can go where we can’t. They’re not tied to any jurisdiction or loyal to any one planet, so they can help everyone, including those girls with Galatea. Honestly, Nova, and you call yourself a warrior fairy. If someone kidnapped me, that’s who I’d want looking for me. Plus, have you seen their uniforms?” She fanned herself, rolling over Nova’s protest that she knew what the Elites were, just not that Riven was one. “So hot, though if they asked me to design them, I wouldn’t use nearly as much fabric.”

As Nova wrinkled her nose and Tecna tried to point out the purpose of the extra fabric—it was armour after all—Musa sank down in her seat, took a sip of her drink and tried to find her inner calm.


End file.
